Judge Rips DOJ Lawyers for Undermining Own Case Against Abrego Garcia

A federal judge shredded Justice Department lawyers Friday over their shoddily constructed case to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man wrongfully removed to El Salvador earlier this year.

During a hearing, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis once again proved that she doesn’t suffer fools as she torched the government’s lawyers for failing to produce an ICE detainer for Abrego Garcia. Xinis had made the request Monday and gave the government until Thursday to fulfill the order.

When the lawyers said they were still working on it, the judge didn’t buy it.

“You have taken the presumption of regularity and you’ve destroyed it in my view,” Xinis said, according to Politico’s senior legal affairs correspondent Kyle Cheney. The presumption of regularity gives particular deference to the executive branch for certain facts and details.

Xinis had heard roughly four hours of testimony on Thursday from Thomas Giles, assistant director for ICE enforcement and removal operations, who said that the government hadn’t yet determined what third country it planned to deport Abrego Garcia. Giles said that the government wouldn’t even begin to consider where to send him until he was back in the custody of ICE. Xinis was outraged that Giles hadn’t provided basic answers.

The judge said it was “insulting to [her] intelligence” that Giles would testify without having consulted with the office that would handle the case, according to Lawfare’s Anna Bower. As the hearing continued, she became increasingly frustrated that the government still offered no answers on its plan to remove Abrego Garcia.

Giles had claimed that Abrego Garcia would “get a fear interview if he claims fear of return” or if he has a fear “of being returned to a third country.” But Xinis hit back at the government’s claim that Abrego Garcia might be treated like any other migrant detainee in ICE custody, noting that nothing about his case has been business as usual. “That’s not credible,” she said. “I’m just telling you, I’m not buying that.”

The government argued that Giles’s testimony had demonstrated what happened to detainees like Abrego Garcia. “Name me one alien like Mr. Abrego, who has experienced what happened to him,” Xinis fired back.

Xinis said that the government’s claim that the decision of where to send Abrego Garcia would be left to a desk officer “defies reality.”

The judge asked how the government’s claims square with a March 2025 memo and a July 9 email stating that if a third country made assurances to prevent torture or persecution, that “no further procedures” were necessary. While the government initially said that Abrego Garcia would still receive a fear interview, they eventually admitted the procedure outlined in the memo and email would likely apply to him.

The judge also slammed the government for attempting to deport Abrego Garcia after spending months claiming that he was a so-called “leader” of MS-13, while providing only paltry evidence. “What’s that going to do for any country that this man has to face a third party removal to?” she asked.

Abrego Garcia had previously received a protective order preventing his removal to El Salvador, for fear of violence—which the government ignored by removing him there earlier this year. The Maryland man was returned from El Salvador to Tennessee to face two flimsy charges related to illegally transporting undocumented immigrants for cash. Despite a judge ordering Abrego Garcia’s release from pretrial detention, he still remains in custody after claiming that he feared he’d be deported by immigration authorities—who confirmed that was their plan. But the details of that plan are still unclear.

For the low price of $45, New Yorkers can proudly display their racist attitudes against New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.

Despite establishment opposition, Mamdani clinched the city’s primary in June with 56 percent of the vote. The Ugandan-born Queens lawmaker’s rise in the Big Apple has not been without intense opposition: many Democratic leaders in New York politics have still refused to endorse him, with some outright attacking him. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand baselessly claimed that Mamdani condoned “global jihad,” a statement that her communication director quickly had to walk back.

But it’s been Republicans who have proven especially venomous in the wake of Mamdani’s surprise win. On Friday, the New York Young Republican Club unveiled its newest merchandise: a blue shirt plastered with the text “Deport Zohran.”

“A new era is coming to New York City,” the item description reads. “With a dash of Che Guevera and modern populist overtones, our tee flips the script on socialism as we take back the city we love. Don’t just cast your vote, rep it too!”

(The website misspells the last name of Cuban Revolution figure Che Guevara.)

The shirt’s manufacturing details explain that it’s 100 percent cotton, side-seamed construction with shoulder-to-shoulder taping, and is “made in the USA, unlike Zohran.”

The unabashed xenophobia is no doubt thanks, in part, to Donald Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric. The president has recently directed his attention towards the Democratic Socialist, threatening to arrest Mamdani and initiate a federal takeover of New York City if the 33-year-old is elected to Gracie Mansion.

“If a Communist gets elected to run New York, it can never be the same. But we have tremendous power at the White House to run places where we have to,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday. “We’re going to straighten out New York. It’s going to—maybe we’re going to have to straighten it out from Washington.”

Trump did not specify by which authority he planned to intervene in New York’s democratic processes.

A new Gallup poll indicates dramatic shifts in Americans’ attitudes regarding Donald Trump’s signature issue, suggesting that the president may be overshooting his supposed mandate on immigration.

Strikingly, the share of U.S. adults who want less immigration, 30 percent, is down 25 points from last year, and the polling firm also reports that 79 percent of Americans—a record high—say immigration is a good thing for the country. More Republicans (64 percent) now hold a positive view of immigration than they have since the very beginning of the Trump era.

According to Gallup, Donald Trump’s handling of immigration is at 35 percent approval and 62 percent disapproval, and, notably, the public’s preferences are shifting away from more aggressive methods of immigration enforcement.

For example, since 2024, there have been 4- and 8-point increases, respectively, in support for paths to citizenship for immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children and for those living in the U.S. illegally, whereas support for hiring more border patrol agents, expanding border walls, and deporting all undocumented immigrants are down 17, 8, and 9 points, respectively.

While Republicans still overwhelmingly favor the more strict of these policies, their preferences, too, reflect these shifts. Compared to last year, Republican support for a path to citizenship for immigrants brought illegally as children is up 7 points (now at 71 percent) and for a path to citizenship for those living in the U.S. illegally is up 13 points (at 59 percent). Meanwhile, Republican support for deporting all undocumented immigrants has taken a 7-point dip.

These results show the president grossly overestimating his “mandate” on immigration. The numbers also give the lie to the notion, common among centrist politicians and pundits during and in the aftermath of the 2024 election, of immigration as an unwinnable issue that Democrats should surrender to hardline immigration policies.

Opposing Donald Trump’s cuts to PBS and NPR could cost Republicans a critical midterm endorsement.

The White House has asked Congress to cut $9.4 billion in spending before July 18, including $8.3 billion in rescissions to international assistance programs and ending $1.1 billion in funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which oversees PBS and NPR.

The president issued a clear threat to conservatives considering rejecting his latest legislative effort, posting to Truth Social Thursday evening that the two publicly funded media organizations had to go.

“It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN & MSDNC put together,” Trump wrote, referring to the cable news network MSNBC. “Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement.”

But that hasn’t stopped Republicans from speaking out.

South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds said that he’s apprehensive to end media access in rural areas, noting that the goal amongst the opposition isn’t to elimination provisions in the package but “specifically to take care of those that were in some of these rural areas,” such as parts of South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and Alaska, according to CBS News.

“There’s a specific group of Native American tribes that have a public radio system set up, and really the vast majority of the funding for it comes from one source, and that’s within the rescission package,” Rounds told reporters. “What we’re trying to do is to work with [the Office of Management and Budget] to find a path forward where the funding for those radio stations would be left alone.”

Montana Senator Steve Daines, West Virginia Senator Shelly Moore Capito, and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski were similarly concerned with the package’s cuts to the public broadcasting organizations. Concerns about ceding funds from the Center for Public Broadcasting, which maintains the Emergency Broadcasting System, have been particularly sharp in the wake of severe flooding in Texas, which killed at least 120 people after authorities failed to notify residents of the rising water levels.

“I hope you feel the urgency that I’m trying to express on behalf of the people in rural Alaska and I think in many parts of rural America where this is their lifeline,” Murkowski told Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought at a Senate Appropriations hearing last month. “This is where they get the updates on [landslides], this is where they get the updates on the wildfires that are coming their way.”

Rounds, Daines, Capito, and Susan Collins are up for reelection in 2026, while Murkowski has already forgone Trump’s support: the Alaska lawmaker won without his endorsement in 2022.

Whether Murkowski will follow through on her defense of the media organizations is unclear, however, after she suddenly caved on Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” earlier this month. Her vote helped to pass a piece of legislation that will make the rich richer while stripping 17 million Americans of their health care.

President Donald Trump plans to raise tariffs on Canadian imports by 35 percent, upending whatever progress the two countries had made on a trade deal, if any.

“As you will recall, the United States imposed tariffs on Canada to deal with our nation’s fentanyl crisis, which is caused, in part, by Canada’s failure to stop the drugs from pouring into our country,” Trump wrote to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in a letter published on Truth Social Thursday night. “Instead of working with the United States, Canada retaliated with its own tariffs. Starting August 1, 2025, we will charge Canada a tariff of 35 percent on Canadian products sent into the United States, separate from all Sectoral tariffs.”

Trump’s tariffs are more threats than actual tariffs right now and the letter itself looks like many others he has sent to foreign leaders and posted on social media. The August 1 deadline is also a significant extension from the initial July 8 one the president announced this spring. Nothing is final here, but Trump is further rupturing relations with one of the U.S.’s closest allies—and one of its most important trading partners.

Another difference in this letter—Trump is using fentanyl as a scapegoat for this destructive tariff, continuing to spread the often-debunked thinking that Canada plays some significant role in trafficking fentanyl into the U.S. when the opposite is true. Canada is not a major player in U.S. fentanyl trafficking, and the tariffs Trump is levying do not reflect the reality of the epidemic.

“Canada has made vital progress to stop the scourge of fentanyl in North America. We are committed to continuing to work with the United States to save lives and protect communities in both our countries,” Prime Minister Carney responded on X. “We are building Canada strong. The federal government, provinces and territories are making significant progress in building one Canadian economy. We are poised to build a series of major new projects in the national interest. We are strengthening our trading partnerships throughout the world.”

Border czar Tom Homan said the Trump administration is looking for more countries to send undocumented immigrants, as part of its inhumane policy of third country deportations.

During an interview with Politico’s Dasha Burns, Homan said the government plans to make deals with “many countries” to exile migrants and noncitizens there, indicating that there were other “signed agreements” in place but declining to say with whom.

“When you’ve got countries that won’t take their nationals back, and they can’t stay here, we find another country willing to accept them,” Homan said.

This week, Trump met with the leaders of five African countries, including Liberia, Gabon, Mauritania, and Senegal, which appeared on a list of 51 countries the government has asked to accept deportees. Already, at least seven countries have agreed to accept people swept up by the Trump administration’s massive deportation scheme. Trump said that the African summit was to focus on “commercial opportunities,” and a trade deal could include such an agreement.

Last month, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to set immigrants adrift in random countries where they have no connections, dealing a severe blow to the rule of law by effectively rewarding the White House for violating court orders opposing third country deportations.

Homan also revealed that he does not know the status of the eight men who were deported and then cruelly held by ICE in a shipping container in South Sudan.

“They’re living in Sudan. And will they stay in Sudan? I don’t know,” Homan said. “When we sign these agreements with all these countries, we make arrangements to make sure these countries are receiving these people and there’s opportunities for these people. But I can’t tell if we remove somebody to Sudan—they can stay there a week and leave. I don’t know.”

The Trump administration had previously ignored rulings from federal judges not to carry out deportations to South Sudan, which is in the midst of violence and political unrest, with the State Department warning Americans not to visit.

MAGA supporters want the White House to know they are not happy with Donald Trump.

In an attempt to fend off concerns that the president’s support was slipping, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X Thursday that Trump’s reputation was that of a “rare promise keeper,” citing a report from the conservative Washington Examiner. But his base did not agree.

“Why is the Trump administration protecting pedophiles?” asked one user who self-identified as a Christian Nationalist.

“You say with a straight face after the lies about Epstein? Complete bogus,” responded the official account for the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania.

Against the expertise of individuals who had worked on the case for decades, Attorney General Pam Bondi suggested in January that Jeffrey Epstein had maintained a “client list,” supercharging ideas and theories about which high-powered individuals could have been involved in the pedophilic sex trafficker’s crimes.

The administration’s language changed abruptly on Monday, when the Justice Department posted a memo announcing that no such “incriminating client list” existed. That spurred accusations that at least one section of the government, either Bondi or the DOJ, had lied, and sparked anger amongst some members of Trump’s base who had voted for him based on his repeated promises to unearth the details of the prolific pedophile ring.

But Trump has seemingly lost his gusto to make the details public: on Tuesday, the president said it was “unbelievable” that Americans were still talking about Epstein, and urged the public to move on, brushing off the case altogether. Trump’s response only made QAnon—a large conspiracy network that so strongly believed Trump would uproot a global pedophile ring that they offered him messianic status—more irate. 

His comments also turned some of the president’s most ardent and fanatical supporters against him, including Laura Loomer and Alex Jones. Conservative comedian Roseanne Barr—who twice supported Trump’s political ambitions—asked the president via social media if there is “a time to not care about child sex trafficking.”

But Epstein wasn’t the only source of frustration in Leavitt’s replies.

“Yeah.. and gas is $2 a gallon. Stop gaslighting us!” wrote far-right political activist Lauren Witzke.

“He’s sending more money to Ukraine and failing to provide justice to Epstein’s victims, while continuing to simp for war criminal Netanyahu.  This is not what I voted for,” wrote one user with a QAnon slogan in their bio. 

Donald Trump said that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s disastrous response to the deadly flooding in Texas was good, actually, because she had been quick to get in front of a camera.

During an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker, Trump defended Noem over reports that FEMA’s response was delayed by a policy she instituted requiring her to personally sign off on all DHS expenditures exceeding $100,000. FEMA officials, who were unaware of the new rule, didn’t receive Noem’s go-ahead until Monday, at which point floodwaters had been raging for more than 72 hours.

“I don’t know anything about it. We were right on time. We were there,” Trump said. “In fact, she was the first one I saw on television. She was there right from the beginning, and she would not have needed anything. She had the right to do it, but she was literally the first person I saw on television.”

“That morning, when we all woke up and saw this tragedy that took place during the evening. And she was right on the ball. She’s done a great job,” Trump added.

In Trump’s world, it only matters how something looks, not how it actually is. And despite Noem’s sweeping powers, her primary job has always been simply to appear on television with that tremendous blowout.

On Sunday, as rescue teams sprung into action and FEMA scrambled to assemble aid, Noem posted on Instagram asking her followers to vote for their favorite portrait of her to be used as her official governor’s portrait. (It’s worth remembering that as governor of South Dakota, Noem was banned from 20 percent of the land by the state’s nine federally recognized Indigenous tribes.)

The next day, Noem finally got around to signing for Texas’s requests for aerial imagery to help with search and rescue efforts. But oh gee, what portrait did she pick?

Governor Greg Abbott is trying to further gerrymander Texas while his state recovers from some of the deadliest flooding in its history.

On Wednesday, Abbott told state lawmakers to begin the redistricting process as he positions Republicans to maintain control of the House in 2026. This directive has come straight from President Trump, who is desperately urging states to find ways to create more Republican seats under the guise that the current maps are “unconstitutional.”

Abbott’s directive has drawn the ire of leaders across the state—as well as nationally.

“While Texans battle tragic and deadly flooding, Governor Abbott and House Republicans are plotting a mid-decade gerrymander,” Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote Wednesday on X. “They should be modernizing emergency response—not rigging maps.”

Democratic state Representative Gina Hinojosa described the move as a “blatant partisan power grab.”

“I’ve been disappointed in this governor before. But I’ve never been so thoroughly disgusted,” Hinojosa said. “The governor is so heartless as to do this right now?”

At least 120 people have been confirmed dead in the flash flooding, and at least 170 are still missing at the time of this writing. And while Republicans across the country chide Democrats, calling their legitimate questions around emergency response an attempt to “politicize” the situation, the governor himself is more concerned with politics as usual.

Joe Rogan, podcaster and prominent supporter of Donald Trump’s presidential bid, is souring on the administration’s immigration agenda.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Rogan, who dined with the president on June 30, “has discussed immigration policy with Trump and pushed him to back off deporting workers who have not committed crimes.”

In a podcast episode that aired three days after their dinner, Rogan expressed a sense of betrayal, saying, “We were told there would be no—well, there’s two things that are insane. One is the targeting of migrant workers. Not cartel members, not gang members, not drug dealers. Just construction workers showing up in construction sites and raiding them. Gardeners. Like, really?”

Rogan agreed too when his guest, Replit CEO Amjad Masad, denounced Trump’s targeting of pro-Palestinian students.

The podcaster has criticized Trump’s immigration policy since at least March, when he publicly decried the deportation of Andry José Hernández Romero, a Venezuelan makeup artist who sought asylum in the U.S. to avoid persecution for being gay, and whom the Trump administration spuriously accused of being a gang member. Romero was sent to the maximum-security CECOT prison in El Salvador.

“That’s bad for the cause,” Rogan said at the time. “The cause is, ‘Let’s get the gang members out,’ everybody agrees. But let’s not let innocent gay hairdressers get lumped up with the gangs.”

In a June podcast episode, Rogan expressed further frustration with Trump’s targeting of noncriminals, telling his guest that Trump would not have been elected if he’d announced, “We’re gonna go to Home Depot, and we’re going to arrest all the people at Home Depot. We’re going to go to construction sites, and we’re going to just, like, tackle people at construction sites.”

MAGA in recent days has been forced to reckon with the worrisome implications of Trump’s promised mass deportations, which the president touts as a means to root out violent criminals, while undocumented immigrants who haven’t committed crimes have faced the brunt of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s increasingly aggressive operations.

Then there’s the fact that mass deportations would spell disaster for the U.S. economy and food supply—which led Trump to propose a carve-out for undocumented immigrant farmworkers. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, however, promised there’d be “no amnesty,” instead floating the fatuous idea that nonworking Medicaid recipients could replace deported farmworkers.

Many hard-liners want to throw civil liberties, not to mention the economy, to the wind, to allow deportations to proceed full speed ahead. Others, like Rogan, are growing wary.